Saturday, 20 December 2008

As darkness drew in on the 19th day of our calendar, beach hut 268 was lit up by a giant neon cross which could not only be seen from the beach but also by all the cars driving along Hove Kingsway. This was the biggest hut opening we've had so far as local theatre company Copperdollar pulled out all the stops to create a fantastic Christmas celebration.

The cross came from Brighton light artist Andy Doig of Fishtailneon.com and acted as a real beacon of light for all the activities planned by KT and her team. Another local artist called Jim Sanders had also installed three 8' high totem poles representing the three kings.

The hut itself (kindly loaned by Alex and Andy) was turned into a shrine complete with ghostly digital mirror and decorations of holly and ivy.

The evening featured a short performance by four members of the theatre company followed by everyone forming a long chain and being led on a trail around the totem poles and down to the beach. They also led us in singing the Wassail song and everyone was given a posy of holly to take home with them.

As evergreens, holly and ivy both symbolise eternal life while holly points us beyond Christmas to the events of Easter. The combination of celebration of Christmas and remembrance of sacrifice was very thought provoking in this Advent season.